In today's day and age, families and individuals are frequently traveling to their destination in their automobile or van, etc. As a result, people are spending longer time periods in their vehicle while commuting to work, during vacations, etc. It has therefore become a common practice to carry among other convenience items in the vehicle, a conventional container of disposable tissues which can be purchased at almost any food or drug store.
Among other uses, these tissues may be used as handkerchiefs, used in the care of infants and small children, used to clean driving glasses and to absorb small spills.
Although it is advantageous to have such a supply of tissues readily available to the car driver or passenger, it is important that the tissues be stored in a manner which does not interfere with safety. One way in which a container of tissues may be stored is via an attachment device which is mountable on the pivotable sun visor of the automobile or van.
The prior art is replete with various types of tissue dispensers which are mountable on a sun visor. In U.S. Design Pat. No. 159,954 (Catanese) is disclosed a receptacle attachment for automobile visors which contains a receptacle which could be used for holding tissues and which attaches to the visor by a pair of clips over the back of the visor.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,278,011 (Murdock) is disclosed a paper pack holder which is removably attached to a pivotable member or visor, by means of spring holder clips which engage the tissue box and which is provided with hooks which go over the journalled edge portion of the visor.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,564,997 (Rome) is disclosed a disposable tissue box container and support therefor which contains a front portion having an elliptical opening for removal of tissues which is part of a case that fits over the tissue box and contains on the rear side, a clip which is adapted to hold the front portion of the case against the visor.
Other types of tissue holding devices to be secured to or about the sun visor, include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,026,999 (Constantino), 4,696,448 (Mazloom et al.), 3,982,717 (Pavelle et al.), 2,908,434 (Schnabel), 2,395,592 (Tierney), and 2,287,581 (Walker).
In addition, other types of devices which may be attached to a sun visor generally include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,432,674 (Office) and 3,019,908 (Theurer).
While these devices have generally been suitable for their intended purposes they have suffered from numerous drawbacks, including complexity of design and mounting and an overall lack of aesthetically pleasing appearance. In addition, since many of the devices utilize metal springs, clips, etc., to mount the device on the visor, they inherently are unsafe in the event of an accident and are more susceptible to breakdown. Further, the prior art devices are expensive to manufacture due to their multi-component complexity.
Accordingly, a need exists for a bracket to support a tissue box on a sun visor which is inexpensive to manufacture and install, is safe, and yet, aesthetically pleasing.